‘This city loves its military'

Many cities the size of Jacksonville have Christmas parades, but Michigan resident Jack Bell said he has never seen a Veteran’s Day Parade.

“It isn’t Macy’s Parade, but you can tell the people here really care about their veterans,” said Bell, who was visiting his son who is stationed at Camp Lejeune.

As marching bands and emergency responder vehicles moved down Western Boulevard, Bell said he felt a sense of patriotic pride at a level he never had before.

The parade’s grand marshal, retired Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, the captain of the USS Cole when it was bombed by al-Qaida in 2000, said the Jacksonville community really honors its veterans with the parade.

The parade may same old fashioned to some, but Lippold sees it as a way to honor veterans who have sacrificed for their nation.

That is the purpose of the 14th annual Veterans Day Parade, said Paul Levesque, president of the Jacksonville Chapter of Rolling Thunder, which has coordinated the parade for five years.

The rolling menagerie this year featured everything from Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown on a bicycle to an authentic World War II amphibious assault vehicle.

Several vintage military vehicles on loan to the Museum of the Marine from Mac Gillivray were the highlight of the parade for 7-year-old Scott Hapsberg, whose parents drove from Maysville to watch the Saturday morning parade.

“I like that one,” he said, pointing at a Vietnam-era Mule, basically a flatbed jeep with a giant mounted cannon.

Gillivray said the Mule is no longer used by the U.S. military, “but they see plenty of action in Afghanistan except it’s the enemy who uses them instead of our troops.”

Gillivray has collected more than $1 million in military vehicles since retiring as a gunnery sergeant in 1970. He said his collection will be part of the Museum of the Marine when it is complete.

More than 70 groups participated in the parade including military marching units from the Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard; private businesses; local civic organizations and law enforcement.

“We try to participate in every event for veterans,” said Donald Bridge, the adjutant for American Legion Post #78 in Swansboro. “It is our way of honoring all veterans.”

A couple hundred parade viewers lined Western Boulevard to watch the procession, according to an unofficial estimate by organizers.

“Never seen anything like this,” Bell said, holding a tiny American flag. “Easy to see this city loves its military.”

Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com. Read his blog here.